Leadership doesn’t have to always be creative. There’s lots to shamelessly copy and emulate out there. I try to collect all kinds of smidgens of knowledge from other leaders that I encounter, and scribble my notes in some illegible scrawl. This is one of them, which I can’t remember who I heard it from.

The notion is that you need to first be able to survive -- which is based on having core skills and knowledge. Then you get to compete -- which requires specific strengths and competencies. And if you’re lucky enough, you get to aspire to lift the entire field that you represent upwards. Aspiration is less of a check-off-the-box assault at making it to the top, and instead is the magical, emotional part of something -- grounded in a set of values -- that embodies a sense of possibility. It gives you the *feeling* that you can make a difference. Because you can feel it in your gut. -JM

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